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Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Boston boogie - the bottom line

A few days ago on a Boston FB page, owner Amy Charlesworth posted a video of her Boston Terrier rubbing her bum on the carpet.

You see this very commonly in Pugs and Frenchies whose stocky bodies, thick necks and short faces make it impossible to turn round to clean themselves/ease an irritation.

I think this is what we're seeing in this Boston, too. You could clearly hear the dog whimper in the original video.

As you can see from the screen grab above, several commenters advised the owner to seek veterinary advice as it could be a sign of serious infection. (Rear-end problems, from compacted anal glands to perianal fistulas are common in Bostons.)

So what did the dog's owner do?

Hell, she added some house music to it and peddled it to the viral video sites.

But there is a bit of good news. The video has now been removed after complaints - from those who had seen the original video and thought it wasn't right to promote as entertainment a dog in obvious discomfort .

17 comments:

Ever the optimist, I'm pleased at that bit of good news, at least. Still, given the mountain of evidence for just how unhealthy many pure breeds (and indeed, pure- and extreme-breeding themselves) are, I am lately in a constant state of shock at how ignorant and apathetic so many owners are.

Well thanks for your blog, completely defamatory, non-informative, pretty pointless actually.You clearly have a dislike for certain dogs, tell we what qualifications you have in animal welfare?I have contacted you via FB message, email and left an answerphone message also.Why would you assume that a dog has a perinanal fistular? Does that make for better reading for your article?I don't appreciate being 'named and shamed' and I want my name removed from this article, I also do not give you any permission to use my images.

Your dog's discomfort was not funny and should not have been peddled for the entertainment of others.

There is nothing defamatory about the post above because it is provably true.

The correct response, btw, rather than to spend all evening reporting profile pictures of my dogs to to Facebook for transgressing rules on nudity or graphic violence is to admit you made an error of judgement.

This person could have been thinking that his/her dog might turn into the next viral pet celebrity, like Grumpy Cat or Lil' Bub. Both of those cats, by the way, look the way they do because of birth defects, and not because of any anthropomorphic attitudes like being "grumpy" or "goofy." In that way, they are similar to the brachycephalic dogs that Jemima's CRUFFA campaign is trying to educate the public about.

And once again, we have an individual who automatically writes off the blog as coming from a place of dislike for certain dogs. Just realize that all of us here love dogs, and Ms. Harrison wouldn't be reporting on dogs if she didn't care deeply about their health and welfare. What I find disturbing is the trend to save face and attack the messenger over all else. It's just like that scene in the original Pedigree Dogs Exposed of the women involved in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel circle, after Ms. Harrison exposed a top-winning dog being used for breeding as affected with the tragic disease syringomyelia. The women essentially told Ms. Harrison "how dare you?!" Umm, how dare *they* for supporting breeding schemes that rely on diseased dogs, just because they win in the ring! It was absolutely disgusting to think that they cared more about their reputation than the health of their own dogs. They exposed themselves, as uncaring individuals who unfortunately involve themselves in animal welfare when they choose to own and breed dogs. I would hope that anyone confronted about health and welfare issues in their canine companions has the decency and courage to swallow their pride and listen to their critics, for the sake of their animals.

Actually, she doesn't need your permission. She can do whatever the hell she wants with that picture, because you posted it on Facebook, a site without copyright requirements of its users. Be careful what you post. There's no such thing as deleted.

Traditional Chinese or "bone mouth" shar pei are fine dogs, which haven't changed that much from their village dog ancestors. In contrast, the American "meat mouth" shar pei are as much victims of ignorant breeding as any bulldog, pug, Frenchie, or Boston terrier.

I've just come back from another trip to Myanmar and was such a relief to see the dogs there compared to most dogs I see kept in the West and many other places in Asia like Japan and Hong Kong for example.

In Myanmar the dogs are almost 100% an aboriginal landrace, naturally selected dog very much like the Indian pariah dog. I've waxed lyrical about pariah dogs before after my exhaustive trip through Rajasthan. The dogs in Myanmar are even better looking IMO, more primitive even perhaps. Overall incredibly graceful beautiful intelligent animals that dont suffer any of the problems Western pedigree dogs do.

Interesting are the variations on the theme, also brought about more or less by natural rather than human selection. Variation in size for example from quite tiny toy sized like a mini pincher to tall like a large Ibizan hound, but all with much the same outline and build. This natural overall variation more or less caters for most needs and comes in a super athletic fit disease free overall type. I also saw some fascinating colours which don't appear in any of our breeds at all which are exceptionally lovely. Needless to say I was quite tempted to bring any number of these dogs puppies home with me but due to our quarantine requirements was kept lusting instead.

Any number of them look like they could waltz off with Crufts overall Champ title too, uniformly functional, smart, lovely, fine short coated athletic dogs. Naturally well bred in every sense. They function as protection, property, livestock guard dogs (very good at that, even as tiny puppies) to hunting dogs to companions, all of the above when and where required. They are exceptional doers and generally much loved and tolerated by children and adults alike.

When I got back first dog I saw was a particularly poor example of a GSD, a show bred number being dragged up the hill, back legs wobbling horribly in a crouched ineffective cow hocked manner, front end marching nobly and bravely upright going nowhere.....it just made such a sad impression.~Seems all our efforts to produce countless breeds of pedigree dog outside of truly working dogs strictly selected only for such based on performance and with healthy numbers have just not actually paid off at all. Nature has done it all superbly for us already. With very few exceptions our closed stud books and incestuous breeding practises and often horrifically bad selection choices have given us exactly the opposite of a good dog and in every sense.

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About Me

I grew up with pedigree dogs - English Setters, Great Danes, Labradors and, most recently, Flatcoated Retrievers. Today, I share my home with an assortment of dogs, purebred and mutts. In 2008, I directed Pedigree Dogs Exposed, a BBC documentary which uncovered the extent of health and welfare problems in pedigree dogs. The film has now been shown in more than 20 countries. Campaigning for improved purebred dog health is now a great passion - one fuelled by the fear that those who currently view themselves as the guardians of pedigree dogs are, often unwittingly, the agents of their demise.
My mission, then, is to continue to highlight where things have gone wrong and to encourage breeders and Kennel Clubs to embrace reform - particularly when it comes to harmful phenotypes and inbreeding.